Tone
by Sabrajay
Summary: A new idea I'm experimenting with. This time it's centered around Tala!
1. Tone

Now so far all of my ficlets have been predominantly KaixRei with no other characters. I was playing around with this idea, originally going to make it Rei and Hitoshi, but decide on this one right ére. Enjoy the beginning…

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the series Beyblade or their characters, except for the fantasies that play out in my mind involving lube, sometimes one uke and two seme's, and lots of buttsex.

* * *

Yuriy loved it when his friends introduced him to new people, although he never let on. He loved the proud expressions they wore on their faces when they would say; "This is Yuriy. He's deaf." as if it were evidence of their munificence and past hard work. He especially loved the way the Russian's voices were sharp and to the point, allowing no misleading information to be said. The redhead also loved the startled expressions, and then the best attempt at a polite smile and their 'normal' faces. If they did the ritual well enough, he would reach up and tuck his hair behind his ear, whichever one was closest to the person. He had long ago given up on trying to keep his hair in the horn-shaped spikes as he used to, and instead opting to leave it down. They never failed to say something nice about the clear blue hearing aides while his friends smirked at their awkwardness. Yuriy loved the attention.

He was thinking of starting a hearing aid collection, actually. Recently, the junk mail provided a new catalogue for hearing aids in various sizes, decorative shapes and colours. Personally he thought they made better accessories than earrings or other jewellery, anyway. It would be like when Johnny flaunted his brilliant new blade construction in front of us, on television, in the newspaper… the rest of us could only admire, not imitate, because there were no ways in which we could find the funds necessary. And now, he was the only one who could wear hearing aids. And his friend could only share a brief memory of what it reminded them of.

In all honesty, Yuriy loved his deafness. It wasn't easy the first few years after the destruction of Biovolt and its supporters, and the unintelligent men who tried to blow up the Abbey while people were still in there, but now it was becoming something that made Yuriy feel like he was special. Thankfully the Blitzkreig Boys had remained altogether, so when his hearing had finally started to deteriorate sometime after the explosions and being released from hospital, they were all there to look after one another.

You know how people nick-name their friends; Kai the Sourpuss, Bryan the –insert any foul word by unsuspecting strangers-, Ivan the Annoying, Sergi… well, he never really had a nickname. Yuriy was the Deaf Boy. And he liked it. After ceasing any hobbies and activities deemed 'illegal', strangely enough, Yuriy had no particularly outstanding qualities. He couldn't sing for shit, he wasn't pleasant to people, and he knew he couldn't cook. Hell, none of them could. Lucky for them, they managed to rope Kon Rei into being a sixth room-mate and being mother once again.

It was more than just standing out, too. He was sure important events in his life may not have work out the same if he were able to hear better. For example, the thing with Garland.

Their first meeting – after all the battles and destruction of Biovolt, of course – was at a mutual gathering. Tyson knew some people, who knew some other people, etcetera, who mainly just turned up for the alcohol. Bladers and non-bladers. When Mystel (who he had seen bounding off with Rei somewhere) had introduced them properly for the first time, Tala tucked his hair behind both ears and leaned closer – not because Garland had done the ritual particularly well… just because he was a stud. His recovery smile was incredible.

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Lol. Just so everyone knows, I've always only imagined Tala with Borisu, Kai or Rei! OO I already have the next chapter planned out, just gotta write it.

I know, I know… I should really update my other fics. Now that I have no more studies I am free to do so. :3

xoxo


	2. Deaf

Ta for my first review from GabZ. 3

Come on guys, this authoress thrives on reviews! Lol.

Anyway, this is the second and last installment of "Tone". Please enjoy, and tell me how I went as Tala!

Disclaimer: I don't own it. Check the first chappie's disclaimer for more info.

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Tala's POV

After a firm handshake we both sought out drinks, and somehow ended up losing Mystel from the door to the bar.

After a while, the Japanese ex-blader looked over at him. "Do you usually read lips like this? Or do you sign too?" The flirty redhead pulled his gaze away from his mouth and met his eyes.

"I mostly just read lips, as it's easier to pick up than just signing. Although, that's not the only reason I was staring at your lips." After a moment of surprise, Garland laughed.

"Fancy that, huh? Not even five minutes and you've already started." I could only smile back at his amused expression. We ended up talking lots more, and then the host upped the music and dimmed the lights for the 'dance floor', and I had to lean in much, much closer to be able to continue reading his lips in the semi-darkness. And read his lips I did.

He and I exchanged numbers, which Kai and Borisu weren't happy about. I could understand why they didn't trust Garland, but I tactfully reminded them that we too were once under Balkov's control just as his team was. It was only a week later he did the unthinkable and actually _called_, much to my surprise. We agreed to have lunch together sometime that week, and after satisfying ourselves that the other did look good in sober daylight, we read more lips. It only took two months before we started dating officially.

Garland was the first after the accident, and now that I think about it, I wonder if my dismal post-accident love life had anything to do with feelings of self-consciousness. Sure, sometimes Kai and/or Borisu and I would mess around with each other, but we were really only friends. With benefits. But I don't know… I try not to think about the first few years after the accident, when it was hard.

xoxoxoxox

As with any relationship, there some minor difficulties and spouts of awkwardness we had to overcome. On our sixth date, Garland invited me back to the apartment he had begun renting to watch a DVD. Apparently it was his _modus operandi_, which didn't surprise me in the least. I was a bit miffed as to why he didn't think it wasn't a great idea, but I let it pass.

He'd turned the lights off and the subtitles on for the movie, of course. Halfway through I suddenly had a disorientating sensation – it felt as thought Garland had melted into or had somehow _become_ his couch, and that I was sitting on and being enveloped by him, floating isolated in darkness and unable to look away from the bright pulsating other-world five feet away. It was strange. And then he leaned in and started whispering what I supposed were 'sweet nothings' into my hearing-impaired left ear. All I got were spurts of warm breath against my ears. I pushed him away. It felt strange, and I suppose losing two senses at once just got to me.

That was the first hitch we'd had, but it was so minor we both got over it instantaneously. The rest of the night was spent researching how his lips could be fully utilized in ways _I_ could understand, even in the dark.

And so, Garland learned. To me, it was no different from learning another person's quirks over time. I sometimes thought it made the relationship more fun and interesting for him, sort of like a twist in the rules of a game he had perfected a long time ago, so that it was once again challenging. From what I had learnt from him, he did play the dating game quite well.

xoxoxoxox

Our first event together was his 24th birthday. I got him a pair of tickets to the Rammstein concert; I knew that he loved that band, although sometimes I couldn't stand their music. When I flashed them in front of him, he started exclaiming his thanks, praise and love, and getting all excited. Then he abruptly stopped. "Yuriy, are you sure? I mean… can you enjoy the concert?" I smiled and tucked some hair behind my hair.

"Okay, first of all, who said I _was_ going to enjoy it? I never did like those kinds of violent, head-exploding noises you call 'music'."

"Hah!"

"Secondly, I can hear anything that's extremely loud, remember? I should be able to hear their screeches just fine." His smile was just so… so _yummy_. Anyway, it turned out to be quite a success, the Rammstein concert. I'd never seen him so shot full of enthusiasm, so propelled by energy before, nor did I ever see him like that again. We weren't even close enough to see much of the band, since I wasn't exactly raking in the money for front row seats. Garland was just driven purely by the music. I imagined his eardrums, the pair of them vibrating like mad, writhing in non-stop orgasms somewhere inside his ears, unseen by the naked eye. I could see now why Kai and Borisu were so protective over their music…

I watched him for most of the night, taking in his jumping up and down, his whoops, his huge grin, and his sweat glistening in the colored lights that traveled as if they were alive. I could hear the amplified electric guitar parts and the screams just fine, and I could feel the drum beats through the floor. But it wasn't the same.

xoxoxoxox

Around two and a half months later, Garland presented me with two tickets on my birthday, tucked into his pants waistband and only discovered after his shirt came out. They were for a book signing and reading from one of my favourite authors; Jodi Picoult. He gave me a slightly apologetic look. "I'm sorry it's for next weekend and not today, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to celebrate your birthday twice." I was thrilled! It's not often Kai and Borisu would go out to things like this, let alone them even knowing which authors and authoresses I liked.

The week leading up to the event, I reread all of her books. My former team thought I was just being strange, but there are not enough words to express how much I am in love with her writings. For hours I would agonize over which book to have her sign – seeing as we were only allowed one. Garland only chuckled at me when I made him promise to get in line, so I could have two books signed. I ended up choosing _Salem Falls_ and _My Sister's Keeper_.

On the day of the event, we arrived at the bookstore early. They'd cleared a section for the mini-stage and seats to be arranged in. Garland led me by the hand to the back row, right in the corner of the rows of chairs. When I protested, he grinned and pointed to a speaker mounted behind us. "But I can read her lips if we sit up the front!"

"But that's not the point of readings, is it?"

"But-"

"Do you admire her words or her lips? Would you rather hear her own interpretation of her texts or look at her face?" I sat down then, clutching two of Jodi Picoult's books, sure of the evening. Sure of Garland. Sure of us.

It would have been absolutely perfect. There are still times when I think about it.

Then the store manager came on-stage. She introduced the famous author, and although the PA system wasn't very high-quality, I could still make out her exact words if I concentrated. Garland squeezed my hand and raised his eyebrows in question at me, and I just smiled and nodded. And then, the lady of the hour stepped onto the stage herself. Everyone clapped as she made her way to the microphone, and she bowed slightly to everyone and leaned forward. "Good morning, everyone." Then, she smiled slightly apologetically and stepped away from the microphone. "I never really liked these things."

It took me a moment to realize she had stopping speaking into the microphone. It took me by surprise, and suddenly I had to start concentrating on her lips. Glancing up as eyes fell upon me, I caught Garland's eye as he raised his arm. "No!" I hissed, and pulled his arm back down. He gestured angrily towards the authoress. Seeing his brow in creases, his eyebrows furrowed, I suddenly had a very clear image of him back at the Rammstein concert. How excited he had been. "No." I told him. Sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chairs with the video of his birthday concert running through my head, I suddenly had the fiercest desire to be happy; to be happy, to jump up and down, to sweat with excitement and to 'whoop'. I was determined to be happy, here and now, and enjoy my birthday present.

"Why not?" He asked, annoyed.

"I can read the tone of expression from her lips." I answered honestly.

"_What?_"

"Shhhh." I stood up and inched my way past people's knees and to a spot near the stage where I wasn't obstructing anyone's views. Garland remained in his seat for a while, but eventually came up from behind and wrapped his arms around my waist. I twisted around to smile up at him, a smile as great as I felt inside at that moment.

For the record, Jodi Picoult's reading was exceptional. I felt as if she had breathed life into her own words, her writings. Made them alive in ways I would never have imagined. Her lips had moved, parted and closed; I could hear the subtle sorrow, the vigilant joy, the gentle lament – all of this contained her prose, never fully discovered until then.

"So how do you determine someone's 'tone of expression' from their lips?" I smiled up at him, signed books tucked under my arm.

"That's a silly question. That's like asking a blind man what he dreams of." I walked faster, and he kept up. We didn't talk the rest of the drive home.

xoxoxoxox

A few weeks after the reading, Garland and I fought for the first time. He wanted to cancel a dinner we'd planned months beforehand, because his indie filmmaker's friend's firs movie premiere. "'Premiere'? _What_ premiere?! It's in his fucking _basement_ for God's sake!"

"That doesn't matter! His specialty is low-budget films, and besides that he spent a whole year on this movie! You just can't appreciate movies!"

"Don't you take that tone with me, Garland!"

It took me a moment to comprehend his silence. "Oh… oh that's right, because you can read my tone of expression from my lips. That's it, right?" And with that, he left for the premiere.

It went down hill from there on, but I suppose we both knew it. The last argument we had, he yelled so loud I was sure I'd almost regained my hearing.

"I'm breaking up with you!" I didn't say anything for a while, but when I did it was only a 'Are you serious?'. "Why?" He sneered. "Can't you tell whether or not I'm serious from my lips?"

And so we broke up.

xoxoxoxox

I have a few nice memories from the last few months of our relationship. My favourite memory is when he fussed over my bangs, tucking them behind my ears. "You look pretty like that. How come you don't do it anymore?" He'd said.

I never told Garland that he sometimes shouted so loudly I didn't need to read his lips to know what he was saying. Garland was never that good at determining at what level I could start hearing properly. I also never told him how disappointed I was to find out he didn't sound like I had imagined him, because, of course, I'd never really heard his voice in conversation until he'd started cursing and shouting at me.

xoxoxoxox

I've had my hair cut since. It's back up the winged-devil shape I used to wear it. I still thrive on the attention I get when Kai and Borisu introduce me to new people. It shows off my new pale lilac hearing aids that match Borisu's hair. Sometimes I forget, and lift my hand to tuck some hair behind my ears; the reaction isn't the same though anymore. They see it coming.

My faithful friends asked, of course. My only explanation was the work of human nature. How people just can't accept other people who can't see or hear or feel or know things they aren't supposed to. If you were to see a UFO, you're crazy. When you can 'contact other beings', you're a fraud. If you sense true love when he just wants to fuck, you're a whack job. And when you can read the tone of voice just from the way he moves his lips, you're a bad lover.

And deaf, of course.

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pants from the effort of typing

My GOD. I havent'typed that much in AGES. death

So anyway, tell me how I went. Cookies for those who do.

xoxo


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